


i can't take my eyes looking at you

by lavenderlotion



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Crushes, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Feelings Realization, Fluff, Holding Hands, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Slash, Season/Series 01, Superboy Works Out his Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-15 03:01:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29429244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lavenderlotion/pseuds/lavenderlotion
Summary: “I wanted to make sure that you were okay,” he says honestly, maybe a little too honestly, but...He’s attracted to Superboy. Even a short conversation has confirmed that he really likes how Superboy looks. And with everything he’s seen, so far, he thinks he likes more than just that.“I am bulletproof.”
Relationships: Dick Grayson/Kon-El | Conner Kent
Comments: 14
Kudos: 32





	i can't take my eyes looking at you

**Author's Note:**

> this is set right after season 1, episode 2!

It takes a while for the Leaguers to clear out. Bruce leaves for Gotham, but he tells Dick that he can stay and look around, sending a heavy look at the other sidekicks—which, wait, are they even still sidekicks?—that makes _very_ clear what Dick should be looking around at. While hanging about an abandoned cave-base doesn’t actually sound like as much fun as patrol would be, he decides to give it a chance.

Plus... they could both use some distance, even if he doesn’t want to admit it. 

The last three days have been _weird_ at home. Dick knows that Bruce was annoyed with him, but he couldn’t give up! He may have been pestering, and he may have been annoying, but he needed to do his part to make sure he and the other sidekicks—and Superboy, of course—got to actually _do_ something! 

When Aqualad had stood up for them, Dick’s heart had nearly raced its way right out of his chest even as he did his best to stand tall in front of Bruce. In support of his friend, yeah, but... this was something he wanted. Something they all wanted! Aquaman was Aqualad’s _King,_ which probably made standing up to him a big deal. Dick hadn’t been able to stand up to Bruce verbally, who was pretty much his _dad,_ but that didn’t mean he was going to sit around and do nothing while his mentor debated whether or not they were good enough to form a team. 

They _were_ good enough. Dick was certain of that, and he’d only felt more confident when Superboy had stepped forward and said they were going to do it _regardless_ of what the League thought. They’d proven themselves, more than, and they all knew it. Dick had spent the last three days reiterating the same sentiment to Bruce, because when Superboy had stepped forward and stood up for them _,_ it had made Dick feel...

Well, actually, he’s still trying to work out just _how_ that made him feel. Being Robin is _busy_ work and being Dick Grayson is arguably _busier,_ so it isn’t like he’s ever had a lot of time to think about things like boys. Or girls. Or just attraction in general. 

But now they’re all at the Cave! Which is, like, _way_ tacular, and Bruce excused him from patrol, which means that Dick has a night off (kinda, since he _is_ supposed to be watching the others) and maybe that night off can be used to figure some things out. 

Like boys. Or girls. Or just attraction in general. 

They all stand around chatting with Miss Martian for a bit, but Superboy walks off pretty abruptly after only a few minutes. Dick knows that Superboy’s upset about something. He watches the clone march out of the big, open area they’re standing in, eyes trained on the wide set of his shoulders and the short, dark hair on the nape of his neck. He’s a little too obvious watching him leave, but thankfully Batman has already left and he doesn’t have to worry about his mentor seeing him fail so badly. 

And Dick... well, he’s always been into learning by doing. 

It all adds up to mean that Dick’s heart is up in his throat as he seeks out Superboy.

According to Wally, Superboy was really withdrawn during their time together. Dick doesn’t _actually_ know what’s wrong, but... he has his own suspicions. He might not be at Batman’s level, but he’s a pretty good deductive and an even better ninja. 

Dick hadn’t missed the look in the clone’s eyes when Superman had flown away with barely so much as an acknowledgement, pushing Superboy off to the rest of the League (which just ended up with Wally offering to take him in). He knows that Bruce hadn’t missed it, either, which led to some of the _very_ tense conversations Dick overheard during the last few days. 

He keeps those conversations in mind as he navigates his way through the Cave’s long, twisting hallways. 

Dick finds the room Superboy’s in easily enough when he follows a map he should _not_ have on his phone. It isn’t _his_ fault the Cave’s firewall was so easily hackable _or_ that the Cave is filled with heat sensors! Besides, he wrote up a full report for Bruce. Really, hacking the Cave was just Robin doing his job!

It’s only a few more turns before Dick gets to the part of the Cave that he knows is going to be used as housing for them. Of course, he, Aqualad and Wally already _have_ homes, but Miss Martian said she was going to be living in the Cave (which was when Superboy marched away) and there’s more than enough space for them all to have a room, which only makes sense if this is going to be their base of operations. 

(Dick thinks the idea of having a second bedroom is really cool. A place away from Bruce _Wayne_ and _Batman,_ away from being Wayne’s ward, maybe even a place away from being Robin. He keeps that excitement close to his chest.)

Dick leans against the door frame to what must be Superboy’s room and crosses his arms against his chest, hoping he looks cool. His sunglasses adjust to the lighting around him, so he can see just fine through the blacked-out lenses. Superboy is sitting on a bare bed in a bare room, which is kind of depressing. Dick makes a note to order him stuff, and wonders if Superboy would want a Superman-inspired room. 

“Is the shirt Wally’s doing?” Dick does his best to keep his voice light even as he swallows around a lump. His heart is beating quicker than he’d like, and he tries his best to ignore that Superboy can probably hear it. 

That’s _not_ cool.

“No.” Superboy’s lips curve down into a scowl, his eyes unmoving from his lap. 

Which... alright. That doesn’t give him a lot to work with. 

“Right,” Dick says, kicking at the floor. He is _not_ going to give up just because they haven’t hit it off with the very first thing he said. Superboy is, like, a baby! A clone baby who’s been force-fed an education, but still. Maybe he’s just awkward? Wait—Dick is probably one of the only people he’s ever spoken to! Of course he’s awkward. 

With a smile and a renewed pep, he asks, “How’re you doing?”

Superboy looks up at him, and his eyes are so _blue_ Dick’s heart trips, a little. Okay, blue eyes are a thing. For him. A thing for him that he likes. _Really_ likes, he decides, as he tries to pull his own gaze away from Superboy’s eyes. The scowl on the clone’s face deepens and is joined by a confused-looking crease between his eyebrows. Well, at least he’s easy to read. 

“I am fine,” Superboy tells him seriously, and then doesn’t say anything else. 

Into the silence, Dick asks, “Was Wally a good host?”

“Yes.” Superboy holds his eyes, so Dick does his best to hold his smile despite how strained it feels. This is officially _not_ going well. “Are you... cold?”

Dicks’ eyebrows shoot up his forehead as he takes in the shifting expression on Superboy’s face. The crease between his eyebrows doesn’t go away, but the edge to his scowl does. “No, I’m not cold. Are _you_ cold?”

“You are wearing a sweater and a jacket.” Superboy’s voice is... flat. Dick’s not sure what to make of it, because his face seems so expressive in comparison. Maybe he doesn’t emote as much verbally? 

“Oh!” Dick chirps, a smile crossing his face. That’s good, right? Superboy isn’t just ending the conversation. He’s even asking after him! “No, I’m not cold. Bats is super into layers, ya know? Part of the whole ‘concealing the identity’ thing.”

“Concealing your identity?” 

“Yeah! It’s not like my real name is Robin.”

“It... isn’t?” Confusion is heavy in Superboy’s voice, and Dick realizes with startling clarity that there must be _so much_ the clone doesn’t know. 

So, as kindly as he can, he explains, “Yeah. Robin is my code-name—the superhero name I go by, just like how Batman, or Superman, are code names too. But we all have other, civilian identities—we aren’t superheroes twenty-four-seven!”

“I do not have another identity.” Superboy sounds _upset._ It’s reflected in the heavy downturn of his lips, and the way his eyes fall back to his lip. That is the _last_ thing that Dick wants right now. 

So, cheerfully, he says, “That’s okay! You’re only, like, three days old. I’m sure you’ll come up with a secret identity one day.”

Superboy nods at him, and then doesn’t say anything else. Robin keeps his arms folded across his chest, his weight on one foot and the other propped up by his toes. He breathes evenly and absolutely does not chew on his bottom lip—he just forgot to put on lip balm! There isn’t even anything for him to be nervous about, after all, so he’s definitely not gnawing at his lip in a nervous trait Batman hates him having. 

Silence stretches between them, heavy and long. Dick doesn’t want to say to get the conversation going again, but he _wants_ to get it going again so badly that everything he even thinks of to bring up sounds lame. 

And the _last_ thing that Dick wants is for Superboy to think he’s lame. 

“You can sit down,” Superboy tells him suddenly, before his eyes move to the spot on the bed beside him heavily. 

“Oh,” Dick breathes, trying to stamp down on the excitement that’s swirling around his belly and making his smile stretch so side his cheeks ache. His heart is _definitely_ racing and Superboy can _definitely_ hear it, but maybe the G-Gnomes didn’t teach Superboy what that could mean? With a deep breath, he says, “Okay.”

He keeps light on his feet as he walks over to the bed, moving the way Batman has trained him to. It takes a thread of concentration, which is just enough that it distracts him from _freaking out_ over the fact that Superboy wants him to sit beside him. On his bed. In his bedroom! 

This is good, right? 

This _has_ to be good!

Dick settles onto the spot that Superboy is still looking at, which is the corner of his mattress. It’s small enough that Dick has to sit so close to Superboy that he can feel the clone’s body heat seeping through both of their jeans, seeping into his thigh. Or, at least, he _thinks_ he can feel Superboy’s body heat. Dick is really good at separating physical sensations from mentally-induced sensations—thank you for all that practical training, Scarecrow—but with the way his heart is racing faster and faster, he can’t tell if he can actually feel anything or if he just _wants_ to feel something badly enough that he is. 

Either way, he has to swallow around a heavy lump that forms in his throat, as Superboy keeps looking right at him. 

“What do you want?” Superboy asks him bluntly, but Dick... is realizing that’s just might be how Superboy works, so he doesn't take offence. 

Instead, he offers a small smile and reaches out to lay a shaking hand on Superboy’s thigh. “I wanted to make sure that you were okay,” he says honestly, maybe a little _too_ honestly, but... 

He’s attracted to Superboy. Even a short conversation has confirmed that he _really_ likes how Superboy looks. And with everything he’s seen, so far, he thinks he likes more than just that. 

The frown is back, though Dick finds the eyebrow crease far more adorable than it has any right being. “I am bulletproof.”

Dick startles out a laugh, tossing his head back as the sound bursts from his chest. By the time he calms down, Superboy is staring at him with the same eyebrow crease, but a small, sweet smile spreads across his face that makes Dick’s stomach fill with warmth. “I know you are, Supey,” Dick says, humour still heavy in his voice as his fingers spasm around the boy’s thigh nervously. “I meant how are you _feeling?_ You’ve been through a lot in a short time!”

“Oh,” Superboy says softly. His eyes fall back to his lap, and from behind his glasses, Dick can see his gaze focus on the hand still on his thigh. “I don’t know.”

Dick makes a sympathetic noise and purposefully squeezes his fingers around Superboy’s thigh—which is, like, _very_ firm under his fingers, oh my goodness—and makes a sympathetic noise. “That’s totally okay, Superboy. Sometimes it’s really hard to tell how you feel.”

Superboy raises his eyes back to meet his gaze. They’re so _blue,_ like a clear sky while Dick’s have always been a darker blue that reminded him of his mother. Dick wishes that Superboy could catch his eyes, but he knows the clone can’t see through the lenses no matter how much it feels like he can. 

Even as it is, Dick doesn’t know if he’ll be able to look away. 

“How do you figure it out?” Superboy asks him heavily.

Dick hums under his breath as he thinks, not daring to take his hand away despite how quickly his heart is beating _or_ how much it feels like his palm is sweating. He has no idea what’s doing, but he’s _trying_ to do _something_ and taking his hand away feels counterproductive to what it is he’s trying to do. So does giving Superboy a blasé answer, so Dick really thinks. 

“That’s tough,” Dick tells him gently, peeking up from under his sunglasses and hating the led-lined lenses between them. “I think... I think that’s something that is very personal to you. It’s important that I can stay calm and unaffected when I’m out with Batman, because too much emotion can be a bad thing. It could get someone hurt. I-It _has_ gotten people hurt.” Dick stops to take a deep breath, and forces himself to keep going with a strained smile. “B-But I... because of that, I’m not really sure I’m the best person to ask something like that?”

Superboy nods his head, and he only looks back at his lap after a long moment. Dick sucks in a sharp breath once he does, something nervous fluttering around in his belly. 

“Could we... figure it out together?” Superboy asks him slowly, parsing out the words like he’s trying to make sure he gets every one of them right. 

He _does_ get them all right. Dick’s heart begins beating freaking double-time inside his chest, and he can feel heat rise to his cheeks until his whole face feels warm.

“I’d r-really like that,” Dick tells him, squeezing his thigh tightly and not even minding the way his voice shakes. Then, in a move that steals Dick’s breath from his lungs and makes him feel _way_ more light-headed than it should, Superboy covers his hand with his own. 

_Oh._ Oh, Superboy’s hand _is_ warm, almost unnaturally so, but it seeps into his every-chilled fingers and chases a shiver down his spine that he can’t stop. Dick feels like he’s going to crumble out of his very skin as Conner’s hand wraps around his own. 

“I’m angry,” Superboy states clearly, his expression drawing into something tight and displeased to match the clipped tone of his words. 

His stomach tumbling over itself, Dick asks, “W-Why?” 

“He—he didn’t even say anything!” Superboy says loudly, his words reverberating through a growl. His fingers go tight around Dick’s, but not tight enough to hurt him. He lets go almost immediately when Dick moves his hand, but Dick manages to lace their fingers together before Superboy pulls back too far. 

Superboy takes a deep, heaving breath and looks at him heavily. “He just flew away. Like I meant nothing!”

“Oh, Superboy,” Dick whispers, squeezing right back. His heart aches, sharply, and he searches for something to say that might help. He’s never been good at comforting other people, but with Superboy, he really wants to try. “It... wasn’t very nice of Superman to brush you off like that. You have a right to be angry at him.”

Superboy’s face goes red, and the easy—if confused—expression on his face morphs into one of sharp anger. “Batman didn’t just leave you, and Barry went home with Wally.”

Dick nods (ignores the fact that Wally and Flash exposed their identities to a _three-day-old)_ and doesn’t say anything till he’s sure Superboy is finished. “It wasn’t fair to you. I know that Superman was shocked and upset—”

“What was _he_ upset about?” Superboy asks, cutting Dick off and squeezing his hand tightly, but still not too tight. Dick is grateful—he really doesn't know how he’d explain a broken hand to Bruce _or_ Batman. 

Oh god, Alfred would be even worse. 

Dick bites his lip and considers what he wants to say carefully. He doesn’t know what he’s doing but he _does_ know that he has to do, to say, something. Superboy is upset, and he’s talking to Dick about when he’d stormed away from everyone else. That has to mean something, and while it might not mean exactly _what_ Dick has realized he _wants_ it to mean, he can’t just ignore how upset the clone is. 

Even if the other boy doesn’t like him the way Dick wants him to, they can at least be friends. Dick doesn’t have a lot of those, either. 

And... he _wants_ to make Superboy feel better, more than anything else. So as carefully as he can, Dick says, “Superman didn’t know you were created.”

“I know that.”

“Supey, he didn’t even know Cadmus existed, _or_ that they had his DNA,” Dick explains gently, rubbing the length of his index finger with his thumb. 

Superboy’s eyes widen, just a little, and he asks, “Is that why he was angry?”

Dick nods quickly—sure, it might not be a hundred percent accurate, but it’s close enough to the truth he overheard Clark share with Bruce. “Exactly! He wasn’t expecting to meet you, because he didn’t even know you existed! I’m really sure he’ll come around if you give him time.”

Another thing Dick is sure about; neither Superman nor Clark Kent will leave Superboy alone forever. He’s sure, down to his core, that _eventually_ the man will come around. He doesn’t know how to convince Superboy of that, but he hopes his word is enough. 

Silence stretches on between them again. It’s not awkward like before. Dick’s realized that Superboy takes time before speaking. Now, Superboy stares down at their hands, so Dick continues to run his thumb along Superboy’s fingers. His skin is so smooth, not rough and calloused like Dick’s own hands. He tries his best to push down the low simmering thoughts the comparison brings to mind, and it’s only because of his four years of crime-fighting that he’s able to do so. 

Another minute passes, and then Superboy lets out a long breath that seems to take the tension right out of him. 

“Thank you, Robin,” Superboy says heavily, a weight to his voice but a lightness in his shoulders. 

Dick squeezes his hand and smiles at him widely. He also feels lighter, too, knowing that maybe he did something, said something, that’s helped. He doesn’t want Superboy to feel upset. If he’s learned _anything_ today, it’s that he _really_ doesn’t want Superboy feeling upset, which means more than he’s equipped to deal with right now. 

So he smiles, light and playful, and looks up into Superboy’s eyes. 

“No problem, Supes. So, we identified anger.” He keeps his voice light, trying to focus on the reason they’re talking about this without making it feel like he’s dismissing Superboy’s feelings. “What are you feeling now?”

Superboy takes a moment to think, and cocks his head to the side adorably. Dick wants to squeal, a little, but it also feels like he’s going to combust with how fast his heart is racing, so he ignores the urge for now. Maybe later, locked away in his bedroom, he can squeal. 

“Happy.” Superboy nods his head like he’s confirming with himself that he’s telling the truth, before he looks back up at Dick’s face. “I’m feeling very happy. And excited. Are you?”

Dick’s breath picks up, and he’s _sure_ Superboy catches his gaze even with the lead-lined glasses. “Yeah, I-I’m happy too,” he whispers, barely a sound, but Superboy’s hearing must pick it up with the way his smile goes wide enough to show off the white specks of his teeth. 

Then, in a fit of bravery—or, more aptly, delusion—Dick darts forward to press a feather-light kiss to Super’s smooth, warm cheek, before he pushes himself to his feet and takes a step back, their hands falling apart after stretching out between them. With his heart lodged in his throat and something _terrifying_ climbing up his belly, Dick whispers, “We should find the others.”

Superboy nods, but his sweet smile is now accompanied by a rosy blush that looks like _potential._ Neither of them says anything else, but Superboy rises gracefully to his feet before he gestures towards the door. 

There’s no tension in his shoulders or in the expression on his face, and Dick feels pride swell up and fills his chest, along with something more, something he isn’t ready to name, as he walks out of Superboy’s room with the clone close at his back.

Dick does _not_ skip down the hall, Superboy walking steadily by his side. Not at all.

**Author's Note:**

> come say hi to me on [tumblr](https://lavender-lotion.tumblr.com/)!
> 
> kudos aren’t the same as getting a comment, not even close. so a comment, as short and sweet or as sprawling and sporadic as you can manage, would be _greatly_ appreciated! don't know what to comment? how about _”this was great!”_ or _“awesome work!”_


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